THE BIG PICTURE: More like the small picture with so many professionals at the top of the game acting like little school kids who had their lollypops knocked out of their mouths.

EVENT: Another home run by the Mexicans.

TRACK: But, they still should have kept most of the original track.

QUALIFYING: Rosberg saves his qualifying in sector 3, Ferrari continues to fall into the abyss as a Force India out qualifies them, and Perez fails at home.

START: Hamilton goes way off track, Rosberg gets bumped off track, yet somehow they still wind up 1-2 by the second turn. Not so much for Wehrlein who gets knocked into a wall.

RACE: It turned out all the focus was not on who won or the consequences on the championship, but on the scintillating, tough, emotional fight for third.

HAMILTON: A perfect weekend except for one key fact -- at most other tracks, his first lap excursion would have ended his race.

ROSBERG: Nearly got taken out twice in the race ... by the same guy. Nico must be breathing a sigh of relief, but will be keeping one eye on Verstappen the next two races.

MERCEDES: They may need to crank the engines up a bit to keep Rosberg comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

STEWARDS: Verstappen finished third. No you don't. Vettel finished third. No you don't. Ricciardo finished third. Okay, you can keep it. Oh, and ignore all that first lap stuff...

RICCIARDO: Let's face it, the only reason Daniel ended up third was because his teammate committed an infraction on Vettel, who then was forced to commit an infraction on Ricciardo.

VERSTAPPEN: So, Max starts all the infractions, and doesn't end up behind the person he first committed an infraction against.

VETTEL: Sebastian is the initial victim and then the secondary perpetrator, and he ends up the worst of all. Though, considering Vettel has turned into a world championship whiner, perhaps it's karma at work.

FERRARI: Lost in all this controversy is the Prancing Horse finally got their strategy correct.

HULKENBERG: Off to Renault next year, and suddenly he's back to being a stud at Force India.

PEREZ: Sergio did not display the home crowd magic like last year.

WILLIAMS: Can't. Quite. Catch. Force India.

MASSA: Masterful job holding off Perez.

ERICSSON: Should have ended his race on the first lap, but instead finished a fine (for Marcus) 11th.

SAUBER: So close (to their first point), yet so far (from lots of extra money).

HAAS: A horrible race performance. Just horrible.

GUTIERREZ: Forget his race (which was very forgettable). The highlight was Esteban's helmet tribute to the Rodriguez brothers. It was epic.

MAGNUSSEN: On his way to Haas?

POWER: Vettel's tirade against FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting reminded us of Will Power's double middle finger salute to then Indy car Chief Steward Brian Barnhart at New Hampshire International Speedway back in 2011.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Lasting. This is the terminology the FIA uses to determine whether going off the track should be penalized -- whether leaving the track allowed the driver to gain "a lasting advantage."

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 3rd -- The hot potato position.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The Mexican Grand Prix started in 1962 due to the popularity of the Rodriguez brothers. The younger, Ricardo, was tragically killed in practice driving Rob Walker's Lotus 24. That first year was a non-championship event. Jim Clark (who was black flagged for an illegal push start from pole position) took over Trevor Taylor's Lotus-Climax at the first pit stop and took the car from third to first for a shared victory. The following season, the Mexican GP attained full championship status.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Just because we can't resist. No doubt, the Sebastian Vettel quote of the year (and he's had a lot of top notch contenders), "Here's the message to Charlie. F--- off! Honestly. F--- off!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Completely forgotten because of what went down at the end of the race, was this gem by Fernando Alonso after his team gave him driving advice, "You do your job. I'll do mine."

SCHEDULE: Lewis Hamilton won his first championship at Brazil. Will Nico Rosberg win his first at Interlagos? All Rosberg needs is a win regardless of what Hamilton does.